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Teen Gun Explosion
Location: Newberg, Oregon Date: September 3, 1989 Story On the afternoon of September 3, 1989, 17-year-old Jeff McCloskey was shooting guns with his best friend, Chris Giesch, on Chris' family's farm in Newberg, Oregon. They had been shooting over 2x4 boards with Chris' .357 revolver and got bored of it, so Chris went into the house and got his double-barrel 12-gauge shotgun. Chris' father, Nick, who had trained him in the safe use of guns, heard the normal shootings of a .357. They loaded the gun with ammunition and began to shoot 2x4s with it, but the shells that it had been loaded with were slightly too large, but not enough to notice a difference with the gun closed, so they continued shooting. On one attempt to shoot, the gun exploded due to the slightly-too-large shells and the way Chris was holding it. It fired backwards and shot Jeff in his right arm. Nick rushed outside because the explosion he had heard was not a normal sound from a gun, while his wife, Susan, called 911. Nick saw that Jeff had been shot, and was bleeding immensely, so he pinched just above the area with his hand to control the bleeding, but due to the amount of damage, he couldn't stop all of it. Paramedics were dispatched from Newberg Hospital, but they did not realize how serious the situation was. Nick was saying a lot of prayers because he was literally controlling Jeff's life, and did not know what to do about it. Chris' sister, Jackie, ran to the end of the driveway to signal the ambulance. The dispatcher was saying to apply direct pressure to the wounded area, but that was almost impossible. Chris felt very bad because he did not know what was wrong with the gun at the time, and he felt that Jeff may lose his arm or die right in front of him, and he felt responsible. Jackie felt very scared as she was waiting for the ambulance, that they would arrive too late, and she might lose someone who was almost like Chris. Paramedic Gary Alex and his partner arrived within 6 minutes. Due to the rural location and the fact that some driveways were not marked by their address, it was difficult for the paramedics to find the farm, and when they saw how frantic Jackie looked, they knew the situation was very serious. When Gary saw Jeff, it was so shocking that he felt like he had been hit in the face by a 2x4. Jeff was bleeding to death, and the only way he wouldn't die was if the bleeding was controlled. If Nick hadn't done so, he probably would have died before the paramedics arrived. They were unable to apply direct pressure to Jeff's wound, so Gary inflated a blood pressure cuff very high to put pressure on the artery, which slowed the bleeding down significantly. Jeff kept saying he didn't want to die, and they kept reassuring him that he wouldn't. Gary's partner started the IV, since they had to replace fluids that Jeff had lost, and radioed to a physician that his arm likely needed to be amputated, and he needed to be flown by helicopter to the trauma center in Portland. He thought he was going to die, and many times when someone who is seriously injured says that, the paramedics need to listen, they may be correct, but Chris was telling him that he would live. Dale Mount, an off-duty paramedic, overheard the call on his radio and rushed to the scene. Dale had known Jeff for a couple of years, having met him through his father, John, who was Dale's guitar teacher. Dale had also been on the scene when John was killed in a motorcycle accident four years before, and when he saw Jeff, he thought of John's accident, and it was tough for him to now see Jeff in so much pain. Jeff knew that Dale had treated John, Dale told him that John had not suffered like he was, and Jeff was scared that he was going to die. Dale told him that the worst that would happen was that he would lose his arm, but he did think he may have a potential to lose his life as well. However, he didn't want to tell him that. They needed to find a place for the helicopter to land, so Susan herded any livestock out of the pasture, and they also had several vehicles to move, but luckily, all of them started. With Jeff's situation, they needed to get him to the surgeon within an hour of the shooting, or else he would lose his life. A LifeFlight helicopter arrived from Portland in less than 15 minutes. Jeff asked Dale if he could ride with him, but Dale had to decline because they had a paramedic and nurse on board, and there was no room for anyone else, and that upset Jeff because he really wanted Dale to do so. It was hard for Dale as well, but he informed Jeff that he was in good hands. Chris started to think about what had really happened, and started to get a sick feeling, as if it should have happened to him since he had shot the gun. Chris finally lay down on the ground and admitted that he had been shot too. There were about 6 pellet wounds to his chest and throat. The paramedics couldn't tell how deep they were, but any wound to the chest needed attention, so he was taken into the ambulance and treated with oxygen, IVs, and the heart monitor. It turned out the wounds were shallow. The more seriously injured Jeff was flown to Emanuel Hospital in Portland, where a special trauma team was awaiting his arrival, lead by surgeon Dr. Ben Bechuas. When he arrived, he was obviously in very severe shock. Jeff was very pale, cold, and diaphoretic, and Dr. Bechuas was very concerned about the hemorrhage and getting blood back into him. He was bleeding so badly that he had lost almost half of his blood volume. After the bleeding had been controlled, they did an X-ray to see if his arm could be saved. The X-ray showed a very large piece of metal within the wound, which had torn large pieces out of the arteries and veins, but most significantly, had torn large segments out of the three main arteries going from the shoulder to the hand. There was no chance at all in saving Jeff's arm, so it had to be amputated. The incident helped Jeff grow even closer to the Giesches. He said he trusted no family more than he trusted them, and he was happy that he went through it with them, but he felt bad that they went through it with him. Everyone - Nick, the paramedics, Dale, and the doctors - did their part when the accident occurred, and if anyone had taken slightly longer than they did, he would have died. "There's two attitudes you can have when something like this happens," said Nick. "You can go 'well, it was me', and live that life, or you can go 'I'm sorry for me', or you can be a little like Jeff and go, 'Hey! The rest of me's alright!', and that's the way he's been. He doesn't have both wings, but that's okay, he's going to do what he's going to do anyway. It's not going to slow that boy down!" Jeff once heard the saying, "What doesn't kills you makes you stronger?" and that was how he felt. Within 4 months, he learned how to do everything with only his left hand. Chris knew he would be fine when they played tennis together and Jeff beat him. He had been worried that Jeff would not accept not having one of his arms, and just become an introvert and not do anything with his life. "And I think he's already proved me very wrong very quickly. I think we're closer friends now. I think we've built a better relationship after the accident," said Chris. Jeff said he wouldn't let it stop him, and that if it stopped him from doing things he liked, it had defeated him, and he wouldn't let it defeat him. Category:1989 Category:Oregon Category:Gunshot Wounds Category:Bleeding Category:Amputations Category:Explosions